How to Comfort a Woman
by Rei Sabere
Summary: When a certain someone is doubtful, a certain someone knows how to comfort her... In one way or another.


_**Hi there all! Before I start off, I would just to inform you all that this is my first time writing for the fandom of HoA, so please be easy on the reviews. ;) Also keep in mind that in this fic, Mick never left for Australia. :) Anyway, hope you guys enjoy my first attempt and don't forget to review. I would really appreciate the comments. Thanks in advance! :D**_

* * *

**How to Comfort a Woman**

There are times wherein you're so sure of one thing that nothing else matters. However, there are also times wherein you're unsure of something, but you can't pinpoint why you feel that certain way. It may seem like something isn't right. That there's an inkling inside of you saying that it's not quite what you wanted. There's no clear explanation, but you already have doubts.

…

…and that was what Mara was feeling.

It had been a while since Mara and Mick's relationship started to go downhill. They both were developing questions in their head on why they were together in the first place, and this made them slowly get awkward with each other.

At first they didn't care how people kept gossiping that they wouldn't last. "The jock and the nerd together" was like a fairytale come true. It was unique and exciting.

But excitement could only go on for so long. Somehow, even if they didn't want to grow apart, they just did.

They didn't mean to forget important dates-anniversaries, holidays and even birthdays. School activities and important events just happened to get in the way. They both just had different interests that eventually, the stuff they liked to do and had to do didn't meet eye-to-eye with their dates.

Then again, if you really do like someone, despite a busy schedule, you should still work things out, right?

_**Tease **_

It was winter. The snow was as if a blanket that covered everything outside. Even by the front porch, you could feel the cold breeze of the icy snow. It makes one wonder why Mara Jaffray was sitting alone there.

Seated near the orchids that once hung near the stairs, Mara seemed to be deeply thinking about something. She didn't care about the frosty air which would make anyone quiver from the cold. All she knew was that she wanted to be alone for a while.

Suddenly, someone sat beside her and put a jacket around her.

"What's with the long face, Jaffray? You're beginning to look like 'The Scream'."

She raised a brow to the blue-eyed blonde. "As much as I'm thankful for the jacket, I'm not really in the mood for your insults, Jerome."

"Sorry for you, I'm in the mood to tease you right at this moment," he arrogantly replied. "So, has the meat-head finally dumped you? I mean, it was bound to happen. You two have absolutely nothing in common! He's quite intelligently-challenged whereas you need some help with your social life. Life's not all about grades, you know that."

Something inside Mara snapped. She twitched and stood up from the chair, angry with all Jerome has said. "That may be true, but now isn't really a good time to discuss that. Leave me alone, Jerome!"

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry," he stood up as well, and went near her. "You know you can tell me what happened."

She looked at him with a hesitant look. She hasn't told anyone yet about her problem and she didn't know how to. But after looking at Jerome's calm ocean blue eyes, words just started to spill out of her mouth. "You see… It's my birthday today and Mick can't celebrate it with me."

"That's out of line, Mara!" he exclaimed.

She shook her head. "No, it's okay. He has a track competition today and it's the finals. I told him we could just celebrate some other day."

"Then why aren't you there watching the competition?"

Mara's heart skipped a beat.

_Why wasn't she watching the competition in the first place?_

In a way, she knew the answer. She just had enough of it. Every sport Mick was playing just had to get in the way of their dates. Would missing his competition for her birthday actually be wrong? She just had to spend some time thinking things over.

But she couldn't tell all these to Jerome.

He sensed that he wasn't about to answer his question. So he just tried to sustain conversation by asking a different question. "But he did do something for you today, right?"

She made a sad face and frowned.

_**Laugh**_

"He didn't he do anything for you?!" Jerome continued, still surprised. "Like cut-out his FHMs and make a collage or paper-mâché or something?"

She finally laughed. His question was just so random and obscene. "What do you think of Mick, huh Jerome? You think he reads porn?!" She continued on laughing from his outrageous remark.

"See, you're laughing! You can enjoy yourself even without him. Besides, it's your birthday, Ms. Know-It-All. And with that title, you should know by now that you have friends you can celebrate with," he said as he opened the door and pushed her back to go inside the house.

She couldn't do anything about it. She entered the house unwillingly.

The house was dark and she couldn't see a thing. Someone must have covered black curtains on the windows.

Because of this, Mara decided to open the lights.

_**Surprise**_

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARA!" everyone said altogether.

Confetti flew over her head and everyone had noise makers with them to rejoice. The house was also decorated with lots of banners. The housemates totally put an effort in preparing for Mara's surprise party.

"Wow, you guys shouldn't have! This is amazing! Thank you!" Mara said as she started to hug each of her friends.

"It was nothing, Mara. We knew how down you were since Mick couldn't spend your birthday with you. Although, you should definitely thank Jerome. It was his idea to throw you a surprise party," Patricia said as she signaled her to the boy by the door.

_**Hug**_

She had hugged everyone already so he went back to Jerome and tiptoed to give him a hug. He gladly received it and even carried her off the ground.

She felt awkward being carried, although it wasn't that she didn't like it. His arms were strong and muscular, so she felt safe. She knew he wasn't just going to let her go and drop her. She trusted him.

However, they were already hugging for some time already. A few more seconds longer and she knew someone would tease them.

"Uh… Jerome, can you put me down?"

Jerome finally snapped back to reality. "Oh, of course! Sorry about that," he said as he placed her gently to the ground. "You were just so light. I couldn't help but amaze how easy it was to carry you."

She couldn't find any words to reply to him so she just looked at him and half-smiled. In a non-verbal way, she was as if trying to explain that it was okay. Like what was said, it wasn't that she didn't like to be carried in his hug. It's just not everyday Jerome Clarke would do such a thing.

"Okay everyone, let's stop talking now, and start eating! I'm hungry!" Eddie said and went in between them. He didn't mean to, but he totally ruined the moment.

_**Smile **_

Everyone went to the dining room and sat on their respective seats to enjoy the delicious food Trudy had prepared. After singing Happy Birthday to Mara, everyone started to dig in and eventually minded their own conversations. Everyone was as if grouped into pairs. Nina and Fabian, Patricia and Eddie, Alfie and Amber.

Joy wasn't there since she had to host Mick's final competition.

Mara understood how her friends felt and could just smile in their blossoming romances. Because of that, it meant that the only person that she could talk to was the guy beside her. When she looked at him, she then noticed that he was smiling at her in a particular way.

"Why are you smiling like that?" she asked with curiosity.

"Excuse me, like what?" Jerome said and looked away from her. He couldn't tell her that he was happy to finally see her smile. It just felt so cheesy. And he was not cheesy at all.

He was Jerome Clarke.

Jerome Clarke, the Class Clown.

He made pranks, not cheesy smiles.

"Nevermind," Mara said and just decided to continue eating.

_**Stare**_

Still continuing to eat, she noticed from the side that Jerome was still staring. She couldn't ignore it anymore.

She faced him seriously and said, "Do I have something on my face? You do know it's rude to stare, Jerome."

Jerome turned away once more and blushed. He didn't know that he was that obvious. He just enjoyed looking at her. Of course, he couldn't tell her that.

Besides, nobody else was minding them. He thought Mara would just be in deep thought again since she was looking at the other way.

"Well, Jerome? What's up? Why were you looking at me?"

_**Compliment **_

Seeing how she wouldn't let go of the instance, he finally decided to say something, "Your face is just disturbing."

"Disturbing!?" she said with a raised voice.

He looked at her and tried to act like the normal joker he is. "Disturbing in a good way. You look cute when you eat spaghetti."

She gave out a small chuckle. "Wow… thanks… I guess? It's great to know I can be cute when I… eat." She was confused on Jerome's comment. A joke like that isn't unbelievable to come from him. Then again, she never did hear him use the word 'cute'. Just never.

Besides, it was the closest she ever got to a compliment from him.

After all, Jerome Clarke was usually telling jokes, not compliments. He was the guy you usually wouldn't take seriously.

"Oh don't take it the wrong way," he followed up.

"Oh no. Of course not. I know that I'm not that good looking to get a compliment from Jerome Clarke."

He was taken aback. "Wait, are you serious? Is that what you're thinking?" he then pulled her to the next room to talk. She could do nothing with his strong grip but just go along with him.

"Jerome, why did you have to pull me away from everybody else?"

"Let's just get something clear here, Mara. You're gorgeous, okay? Don't you dare think you're not pretty at all and that the cutest you're ever going to be is when you're eating spaghetti!"

This was not what she was expecting. A real compliment from Jerome Clarke.

She blushed a bit from his statement. How couldn't she? He just called her beautiful.

And all she could say was a shy "Thank you."

_**Flirt**_

"I mean, in the house, come on! Are you actually insecure of how you look? Amber looks like a life size Barbie doll, Nina's got too much jaw, Patricia wears too much eye makeup and Joy has eye bags the size of Texas!"

Mara burst out laughing. He really did have a great sense of humor. "That's mean, Jerome! They're our friends!" she said, yet still laughing from the insults.

"But it's true! You're definitely a breather of fresh air compared to the others," he said as he carefully touched her hair. "Your accent that mixes with your exotic beauty is just… refreshing."

She made a big smile. She never had such a compliment. Being half-Guyanese, she knew she looked different from everybody else. However, no one ever called her exotic appearance as beauty. She didn't even receive any grand compliment close to that.

Not even from Mick.

…and then it hit her.

_Was Jerome actually flirting with her?_

Before she could actually ask him that question, Amber then came to them and unwillingly ruined another moment.

"What are you two doing out here? Come on, we're about to start with the party games!" she said then pulled them both to the living room.

_**Game**_

Everything just happened so fast. Everyone was seated forming a circle, ready for spin the bottle, Amber style.

"Okay, so here's how to play this game. Someone spins the bottle and whoever it lands to must answer a truth, do a dare and make out with the person who spun the bottle," Amber explained.

"Wait, shouldn't it just be truth or dare only?" Fabian asked, a bit concerned on what would happen if they were to follow Amber's rules.

"But that's so last year, Fabian. Why give an option of truth or dare, when you can do both and get a kiss? Duh! Anyway, I'll go first," she said and spun the bottle.

Round and round it went until it landed on Eddie.

He gave her a proud smile and started to make kissing noises just to make her girlfriend, Patricia jealous.

Amber turned to her. "Don't worry, Patricia. It's just a game. Besides, Alfie's not jealous. He knows I'm safe with Eddie. You should too," She then looked at Eddie. "Okay Eddie, tell us the truth and nothing but the truth. Whatever happened to you and Jerome when we saw you together, lying on the couch when we came back from Christmas break last year?"

Loud laughs came from everyone. That was pretty much a funny view. Everybody just couldn't believe their eyes when they saw the two comfortably hugging each other.

"Finally! We get to hear what really happened that day! Even Jerome hasn't told me what happened," Alfie said all excited.

Eddie rolled his eyes to Jerome and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry man. The truth had to come out eventually."

Jerome could just look down and curl up like a fetus, trying to as if hide from everyone and imagine that he wasn't in the room. Mara could just smile at his childish reaction.

"You see, Jerome and I didn't go home for the Christmas break. I was angry with my dad, and Jerome's mom was supposed to take him and Poppy for a trip he didn't even want to go to. So we just decided to stay in Anubis house for the holidays. No one knew. Not even Victor or Trudy. We figured keeping it a secret since they would never let us stay. Before everyone left, we were just hiding in the cellar. Then we spent Christmas here."

Patricia stood up from her seat. She was getting angrier by the second. "And you two grew closer and secretly fell in love with each other, is that it?"

"It's not what you think, Patricia. I told my dad that I was with you but…" he hesitated and couldn't continue.

"But what, Eddie?" Patricia asked, her anger at the limit.

"But…I couldn't actually ask you if I could spend Christmas at your place. It just seemed too fast. We just started dating a few months ago. I'm sorry. So when I heard Jerome's plan of staying for the holidays, I decided to stay with him. It seemed like the better choice."

"Okay, but that still doesn't answer the question why we caught you two hugging on the couch when we came back from break," Nina asked.

"Well, the nights before that, everything was great. Jerome and I didn't really mind each other. Yeah we would talk about guy stuff, play games on the PS3, but that was all. If we weren't gaming, he was just cooped up in his room, on his computer, chatting with some girl."

"How do you know it's a girl he's chatting with?" Mara asked.

"I caught him several times smiling like an idiot. He was typing so fast and he was really excited. I would sometimes see him jumping up and down like a psycho all because the girl did something special. If that wasn't a girl, then maybe Jerome was talking to a guy and he's gay. Or maybe he's just plain insane."

Jerome could only take so much of the humiliation. He stood up and pinned Eddie down on the ground. He had to stop him from talking, or Mara would realize that she was the girl Eddie was referring to. Plus, he didn't like being called gay.

"Shut up, Eddie! You have no authority to be spying on me and rat me out to our friends. Plus, I am not gay okay?! Besides, you were really sappy and cheesy when you were Skype-ing with Patricia. Always and forever? Newsflash, Eddie. That line is so overrated."

The two were about to strangle each other if it weren't for Patricia and Mara who separated them.

"Could you just finish the story, Eddie?" Patricia asked then eyed at Jerome. "Enough, Jerome. Or would you want me to strangle you for him? You know how painful that would be."

"No, no. I'm fine. Yes, continue Eddie," he said and tamed down.

"Okay, so that night… Jerome and I heard some noises from outside. And it wasn't just any noise. It was as if someone was going to break in the house. We even saw a shadow of a man! So with that, we decided to stay in the living room to catch the culprit, but then it grew colder. As if someone turned the heater off and opened the door or something. But no one did such a thing. Anyway, we just decided to stick together and be ready for whoever comes. So we slept seated, back to back. I guess after a while we got really sleepy and got into an awkward position afterwards."

Everybody's faces were at first blank. Then they all laughed so much, except for Eddie and Jerome of course.

"Got into an awkward position? Who knew they were the types who liked to hug someone in their sleep?!" Alfie said and laughed the loudest.

After a while, everyone got to catch their breath.

Amber then spoke, "That's it? Wow. That was hilarious! Okay, uhhh… what's next? Oh dare! Eddie I dare you to kiss Patricia."

"Gladly." He then went near her girlfriend and kissed her slowly and passionately. After a while, she kissed Amber swiftly. "Okay, my turn's done."

The game went on and more secrets were revealed. Nina's first boyfriend who betrayed her. Fabian being adopted. And even some picture perfect kisses you wouldn't miss out on. Like Eddie and Alfie, Nina and Patricia and so on.

Finally, the last person to spin the bottle was Jerome. And of course, the bottle had to land on Mara.

"Ooooh. The birthday girl. Hmmm… okay, Truth. Let's see… Who was your very first crush in Anubis house?" Jerome asked.

Mara froze. Who was it anyway?

She never really thought about it. All before Mick, she didn't really think much of her love life or even who she liked.

Mick was her present boyfriend. Mick was her crush. Although, despite all that, deep down inside, she knew he wasn't her first crush in the house.

He was a jock. She was a geek. She knew right from the start that they wouldn't get along. She had dismissed a possible liking of him from the beginning.

So who did she actually fancy when she first entered the house?

She tried to recall her first day. She went in the house only to be welcomed by no one. It was a grand house and she didn't know where her room is.

She just decided to look around when suddenly out of the blue, a boy scared the wits out of her when he came out of the mummy case that was standing near the grandfather's clock.

This was the first person he met in Anubis house. And despite on how they met, she initially found him attractive. Besides, after scaring her, he toured her around the place and introduced her to the other housemates.

"…it was you," she finally confessed. "You were my first crush in Anubis house."

Jerome smiled. "Why thank you."

"No, thank you. You helped me out since day one. I'm really grateful."

Everyone could feel the chemistry between the two. They were staring and smiling at each other already as if no one could see how they looked at each other.

Although, the game wasn't over yet. "Okay, give your dare now, Jerome!" Amber said, getting a bit impatient.

"Okay, okay. Mara, uh... I dare you to kiss me."

"Wait, you get a kiss from her anyway, man," Alfie said.

"Yeah, but that would just mean I get to kiss her twice," he replied with a mischievous smile.

Mara smiled back and just did his dare without any complaints said. She went near him and pulled his collar so that their lips could meet.

The kiss was so intense. Their lips clashed and Jerome placed her hands on her cheeks for more impact. She also wrapped her arms around his neck so that she could reach his height.

The kiss was just so passionate. It wasn't too dry or too wet. It was just fine. There was no tongue involved, yet somehow, everyone felt that they didn't want to let go of their kiss.

But they had to. They stopped kissing to catch their breath, inhale a big lump of air, but they both immediately began to kiss again.

The second time around was even more intense. Jerome's hand that was positioned on Mara's cheeks slowly went up to her hair. He brushed it gently and played with it for a while.

You could see that both really liked the kiss since they both were smiling as they did so.

However, the second kiss didn't last for long.

"Mara… I can't believe you," Mick said as he entered the room and saw her girlfriend kissing another boy.

Reality finally sank back into Mara's head, and she broke the kiss. She let go of her grip on Jerome's neck and gaped in surprise of Mick seeing what just happened.

"Mick, it's not what it looks like. It was just Truth…Dare… and Kiss!" she reasoned out.

Mick just shook his head and left the room. But Mara wouldn't let him. She pulled his arm. "Listen Mick, it was just a game."

Mick didn't say a word and continued to walk away. Mara's grip eventually was removed from his arm.

However, she was insistent. She then tugged his shirt. "Mick, I'm sorry. But it didn't mean anything."

Jerome could just look down and frown. Mara's words were a bit hard. 'Just a game?' 'Didn't mean anything?'

But it felt like everything for him. It felt so perfect.

Mick finally spoke. "Don't lie to me, Mara. You just don't kiss anybody like that. Heck, if it was a normal kiss in a game, it would have just been a peck. A smack! But it lasted for so long Mara. It… I don't even want to describe it! It just keeps repeating in my head."

Mara hugged Mick. "I'm sorry, Mick."

He broke the hug. "No, Mara. I can't accept this. It's something already to kiss a guy like that. But the way you did… you never did with me. I'm sorry, but it's pretty clear who you like more. We're done," he said and went to his room.

Mara could just cry and leave the house.

_**Comfort**_

He found her in the old Frobisher Library. She was in a corner, beside a heap of books that hid her from obvious view. You would have to be looking for her to actually find her.

"Hey," a blonde guy said and sat beside her. "I'm sorry about that. But despite all that has happened, don't forget that I'm still here for you."

She wiped her tears. "Thank you for comforting me, but there's no need. It's not your fault. It was a game."

"But, I shouldn't have dared you to kiss me, Mara. I shouldn't have dared you to kiss me twice."

"No, it's okay. It was my fault. I shouldn't have kissed you like that."

Jerome looked away. "I see. So… you didn't enjoy the kiss?"

"What?! Of course I did. Why would have I kissed you that long?" Mara said as she looked away since she was starting to blush.

_**Time**_

"Why did you kiss me that long, huh?" he asked with a smirk.

"I guess I felt that I had to. You were just so kind to me. You were always there for me, and we spent lots of time together. I just…"

"Wanted to repay me?"

She nodded. "…yeah."

"Look Mara, I did all those because I wanted to. I didn't do those things because I wanted you to feel obliged to kiss me. I did those things because I knew you needed help. And I wanted to help."

_**Gift**_

He tried to get something from his pocket. Revealed was a box with a ribbon.

"Here, this might make you feel better," he said and handed her the gift.

"You shouldn't have, Jerome. You've already done so much for me. I couldn't abuse all the kindness you've shown me."

"Please take it," he said then placed it on her hands.

"What is it?"

"Something that belongs to you."

She opened it and saw something familiar.

Her red ponytail with a heart on it.

"Where did you find this?! I've been looking for this since the first day I came here!"

_**Note**_

Jerome stood up and walked to the door. "There's a note taped under the box. I've written it for quite some time and I think it's about time I give it to you. Read it when I'm gone. I'm too embarrassed to tell you. Once you've done so, give it some thought then talk to me when you're ready."

However, he didn't notice that while he was talking, she was already so eager that she started reading the note even before he got near the door.

It said:

_If you're reading this note by now, it means I've given back your ponytail. I've snatched it from your stuff on the first day we met. Sorry about that. It's just that I instantly liked you when I first saw you, so I figured getting a souvenir from you. Pathetic isn't it? Anyway, I didn't expect my little crush on you would grow so much that I would give this back only now. At first that was the only thing I had of you. It was the closest I had of you and before it was enough. But I guess my heart grew fonder. I give this back to you because finally, I'm ready to admit. _

_I like you Mara Jaffray. Maybe even love you. No. I know that I love you. Always had. Always will. Whatever happens, whatever you may answer, I'll be waiting. _

_With all my love,_

_Jerome_

She was a very fast speed reader and before Jerome could open the door, she was done reading it.

"I never knew, Jerome…"

His eyes widened from hearing her words. He knew that she had read it already and panicked. He turned the knob too hard that somehow the lock got jammed.

_**Trapped**_

His eyes widened even more. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be.

Of the one time he wanted to be away from Mara, this is the only time he couldn't.

He wasn't ready to talk about it just yet.

He felt so embarrassed of that note that he wanted to leave her for a while so she could think it over.

But there was no more use now.

"Jerome, listen, I read your note," Mara said as she went near him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

He closed his eyes and covered his ears. "I don't want to hear it now. Please don't."

"Jerome, listen to me! Stop being a baby! I'm ready to answer you!"

"No! You listen to me, Mara! We're stuck here! The door's locked!" he exclaimed in a bit of hysteria.

"What do you mean locked?! You mean we're trapped here!?" she said then turned the knob. But it wouldn't budge. She turned it to the right, to the left and even pushed the door.

But it was no use.

"We can't be locked here! It's the last day before Christmas break! Everyone must have left already. They might not even find us here," Jerome said.

"This can't be, we don't have any food here and it's already getting cold. How are we going to survive in this semi-abandoned library? Besides, this is nothing like your stay with Eddie at the house. You guys had the house all to yourself. It had loads of food! That's why the fridge was empty when we came back!"

"Let's think positive. We just have to contact the others. You have your phone right?"

They both check their phones and found that there was no signal.

Tough luck.

_**Hands**_

Mara could just sit down and hug herself. It was already getting a bit cold. Luckily, she had the jacket Jerome gave to her just a while ago so she wore that. Although she didn't have any mittens so all she could do was rub her hands to each other.

Jerome then held her right hand and pulled it close to himself. "You're cold aren't you? Don't worry; we can help each other be warm."

He then went closer to her and held both of her hands. From sitting side by side, now, they were facing each other.

She couldn't look at him straight at the eye while not blushing. He was just so sweet. And now she finally knew that he loved her.

_**Lean **_

They still didn't talk about how Mara felt about him. On what feelings she felt towards him. Jerome didn't want to hear her immediate response. He wanted her to think about it, so they just remained seated there, hoping that someone would finally find them.

After a while, the air grew colder. Holding each others hands wasn't helping anymore, and their jackets weren't enough for the cold. Jerome decided to sit beside Mara and pulled her closer to him.

She just smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. It just felt like the best thing to do. Her head fit his shoulder so perfectly. Like a key in its lock. Like a puzzle in its place.

_**Carry**_

Hours passed and the sun was about to set. Jerome then noticed that their breaths grew to be more visible. It was getting colder and even harder to tolerate. He tried to talk to Mara, but she wasn't answering. He then noticed that she was in deep slumber although wasn't breathing much.

"Mara, wake up!" he said as he carefully patted her cheeks. They were so cold.

He panicked and shook her shoulders.

Yet it was no use. She was already unconscious and he felt that her forehead was burning hot.

From much concern, he kicked and kicked the door to open it. When his efforts were in vain, he decided to push down the bookshelves to the door for a better impact. That did the trick.

He then cleared the way to the door and carried her on his back in a piggyback stance and ran back to the house.

He wasn't going to let anything happen to her. No way.

* * *

Mara eventually woke up after she felt really warm in her cozy room. She was covered in her blanket and had an ice pack on her forehead.

After realizing what had happened, she rose up from bed and immediately tried to look for Jerome, only to see that he was sleeping just on the chair near her bed.

He seemed so exhausted that he didn't even wake up from the outburst of his name when she woke up.

She decided to let him be since he looked really peaceful while sleeping.

_**Kiss**_

She looked at him closely and marveled at his face. She then stole a kiss from him and patted his head. "Thanks Jerome. I love you too."

Despite being unconscious and asleep, it was as if he heard her. He smiled yet his eyes were closed and he was really asleep.

All she could do was smile back and stare at his ever so handsome face. It was her time to smile like an idiot.

Although, she had all the time to do that anyway.

Everybody else had left the house. And all the buses have left the school grounds.

They now had Anubis house, all to themselves for the Christmas break.

* * *

_**A/N: Merry Christmas darlings! Here's obviously an early Christmas gift. Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**_

_**Anyway, just a tidbit I want to share since some of you might be curious. The sound Jerome and Eddie heard from before was from Victor. He came home to Anubis and surprisingly saw the two there. He couldn't just go in and scold them because they might get suspicious that he had to go back in such an awkward time (he was about to do some brewing of potions). So he just decided to sneak up and enter the house. He turned off the heater just to mess with their heads and give an indirect punishment. :P Hehe!**_

_**Well hope that clears everything up. Again, Merry Christmas everyone! :) Don't forget to review! Thank you in advance to you all! :) Enjoy the holidays everyone! **_


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